This was originally posted at LaGremlinland on 5/9/06, and it is the very last post "rescued" from my old websites.
By far, the museums at Harvard University are the most underrated tourist attractions in the Boston area. They are just lovely. This article came about when I had to make a quick trip to Harvard Square and I decided, for the heck of it, to visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Of all the Harvard museums, this one might be the most famous. There are hundreds and hundreds of things to see in here. For now, we are going to tour the Natural History Museum itself. (It’s unclear as to whether the Peabody Museum is part of the HMNH or not. I consider it one of the art museums. Next trip.) First, here is a photograph that I was probably not supposed to be taking of one of the famous Glass Flowers:
These pieces are unbelievable. This is a painstakingly accurate scientific model of an Iris made out of glass. They had a small display of how the artisans created these models and it must have taken a $#!^-load of time to do and an amount of patience that is totally alien to me.
I start with the Glass Flowers because they encapsulate something downright poignant about this museum: It is OLD. Some of the exhibits date back almost a hundred years or more. Several of the *models* on display are a hundred years old. Most of the animal displays use taxidermy, and it’s sad to see that some of the mounts are falling apart (check the stitches on their Rhino). And, inevitably, you see things like this:
Yeah. Several exhibits have, inadvertently, become requiems for creatures that are now severely endangered or extinct. Needless to say, you have to keep the historical context of these exhibits in mind when you go. Just when I was starting to get bummed out, I saw this:
Throw up your talons if you [heart] Maniraptors. Meet specimen “MCZ 4371”, a Deinonychus antirrhopus. And if I’m not mistaken, this is one of the ’raptors who was described by Professor John Ostrom in the late 60’s, and who inspired him to say, “Woah… this here’s one KICK-ASS animal.” Before he wrote his report on 4371, people didn’t realize just how KICK-ASS Maniraptors were. It’s very likely because the only ’raptors found thus far back then were small animals and fossils whose hind talons were badly preserved. Imagine the only ’raptor you know about is cute lil’ Archaeopteryx lithographica… and then you find this. It’s also fairly obvious, when you stand next to this animal, that this is the “Jurassic Park” raptor. It’s still unclear whether Deinonycus was a larger “robust” subspecies of Velociraptor (which were generally much smaller and slimmer) or if these were two separate genre of animals. Like most of the exhibits, unfortunately there isn’t much information to confirm or deny the “famous” status of a specimen. That’s too bad. Don’t they understand that dinosaurs have fans too?
Now that we have reminded ourselves of just how totally sweet Maniraptors are, let us turn around, try to photograph around the other visitors and their reflections, and…
*whimper*
No, that’s it, just *whimper*
But the Kronosaur is typical of the scale that you’re dealing with here in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, as you can hardly see in this crappy picture. This is the main collection of animal specimens from all over the world, and although the hall is HUGE, it’s… dense. There is just enough space to walk around among the specimens. That picture was taken from the top of the scary balcony section (note the fishnet). I think it’s enough to document the fact that they fit three Whales in here and still found space for a Giraffe fully four times as tall as me.
Things I Learned At the Museum Today
* - Maniraptors: The more you think about them, the more they KICK ASS!
* - Pelycosaurs (primitive mammal-like-reptiles like Dimetrodon) were strange creatures.
* - Some beetles look like exquisite jewels.
* - There is something unsettling about stuffed apes.
* - Hummingbirds are just incredible creatures.
* - The pervasive scent of mothballs and industrial strength disinfectant will stop bothering you after about an hour.
* - Mouse Lemurs, the smallest primates of all, really are hardly bigger than mice. People, this is a hand-held monkey!!!
* - I can stay in one museum for almost five hours and still have a hard time leaving.
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Hasty Addendum: I apologize for the quality of this entry. I made a last minute decision to save it on Geocities' very last night, and it was supposed to be nicely edited and updated so it could be ready to go up "later".
The thing about this lovely holiday season is that it seems to take "later" a lot faster to turn into "now".
Hence the slapdash nature of this post. Now I'm torn between leaving it as it is and changing it so that it's less silly and more a loving tribute to my NOT first ever visit (it's actually my second) to my favorite place to go and draw all day. The latter option only exists because I assume everyone who stumbles upon a blog that they like will *immediately* go back and read through all the articles that strike their interest (I assume this, naturally, because this is what I do). And because OCD, however mild, is a hideous b*tch goddess.
So I don't know. I may change this or repost it when I actually have some free time to give it more thought. We'll see.
